Canadian Parliament to Pass USMCA
UPDATE: Mar. 13, 2020: The Canadian parliament ratified the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Friday afternoon, the third and final country in the trade deal to do so, according to a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative.
Canada, the last of three countries to adopt the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, will rush through ratification of the pact on Friday.
“Bloomberg reported that the lawmakers voted unanimously to suspend the current session of the House of Commons, and they'll come back April 20,” Pro Farmer analyst Jim Wiesemeyer told host Chip Flory on AgriTalk. “But the motion included a provision that the new trade deal would be considered passed. Bottom line, it’s there.”
The House of Commons lower chamber in the Canadian Parliament, which had weeks of deliberations left, agreed to the instant approval as part of measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reports.
The remaining step in the USMCA passage process includes formal approval by the Governor-General – the representative of Queen Elizabeth, Canada’s head of state – which is a formality, Reuters reports.
The USMCA is designed to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement that President Donald Trump strongly opposed.
USMCA is a huge success for America’s farmers and ranchers, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said in December. “This agreement will unleash the bounty of America’s agricultural harvest to two of our largest trading partners in the world, and it is critical to the success of rural America,” Perdue said.
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